50th Reunion: Alumna to make a pedal-powered return

Tri-Cities area of central Washington

This summer, as alumni trek from all around the country back to Palatine Hill for Reunion Weekend (June 21-24), one alumna’s journey to Portland will be almost as memorable as the weekend itself.

Mary Kay Britton ’62 and her husband, Jim, are pedaling more than 250 miles on a recumbent bicycle from their home in the Tri-Cities area of central Washington for her class’s fiftieth reunion. A trip like this is nothing out of the ordinary for the Brittons, who have biked to their vacations ever since falling in love with bicycle touring in the Canadian Rockies in 1987. Since then, they have biked through 49 states and have tallied up 23,000 miles on the road together. For this trip in particular, the bike duo will take a week to get down to the reunion and will be going through Columbia River Gorge’s scenic tunnels. These tunnels are old highways that are now only open to bikers and pedestrians and take a number of dramatic and scenic twists and turns through the Gorge.

We can’t wait to hear how her and all of your journeys back to Palatine Hill goes.